The Shill Report Episode 13: How to Make News, Op-Ed Pages

Ryan, Joe and Chris discuss how they made the Ron Paul interview go viral, do we care what celebrities think, and the duty of op-ed pages. Listen here.

HOW THE NEWS IS MADE – WE ARE LIBERTARIANS STYLE

Let’s tell the story about what was going on behind the scenes when the WAL was able to take the interview with Ron Paul and turn it in to national news:

Joe Ruiz gets the talent

Timing is everything – previous day on MSNBC with Alex Wagner

The interview that almost didn’t happen

Spangle takes to Twitter

The news site belly flops when HuffPo and Blaze pick up the story

Lessons and insights

JOHN CUSACK OPED – ARE NSA REPORTERS PROTECTED BY THE 1ST AMENDMENT?

From the article:

“That begs the question: will the attorney general, as chief law enforcement officer of the country, now go on record that he will guarantee the safe return and safe passage of journalists who have exercised their rights under the first amendment?

Or would we accept the creation of a generation of exiled watchdogs, who are trying to hold their government accountable from afar?”

A New York Times reader called out the paper for publishing the recent op-ed by Vladimir Putin. In response, the Times decided to share the process of how op-ed pieces are vetted and ultimately approved for publishing. It gives some insights in to how the media works behind the scenes and also demonstrates the risks that come with publishing opinion pieces.

From the article:

“The Times editorial department was approached Wednesday by an American public relations firm that represents Mr. Putin, offering the piece. At the same time, Mr. Rosenthal said, Mr. Putin’s spokesman had called The Times’s Moscow bureau with the same purpose in mind.

Mr. Rosenthal agreed to review the article and quickly decided to publish it. It was posted on the Times Web site by Wednesday evening.

“I thought it was well-written, well-argued,” he said. “I don’t agree with many of the points in it, but that is irrelevant.”

“Syria is a huge story and Putin is a central figure in it,” giving the piece great news value, he said.”